While fine art programs are adjusting to the new district travel guidelines, some programs are more heavily impacted than others.
Different groups, such as band, choir, and orchestra, have already had to adapt and make adjustments to their traveling plans due to new traveling policies implemented by the district. These rules include limits to the amount of out-of-state trips each program can take per year, how many students they can take, and how the students are transported there.
“The main impact for us is that we don’t have quite the same amount of freedom,” choir director Crystal Chamberlain said. “So, we have to be a little bit more careful about deciding which years we’re going to do certain things and when we’ll travel where.”
Orchestra president senior Sam Meade said he is not in favor of the regulations, but that they make sense in the long run.
“It’s an annoying policy because we like being able to go out of state, so we can perform or get more experience,” Meade said. “Also, spring trips are fun to go do, but it also makes total sense because we have a limited budget. We don’t want to spend it all.”
For choir students, this impacts how many trips they can go on each year.
“The students are a little bit impacted,” Chamberlain said. “The main thing is we try to plan for that, so that we can get as many students moving as possible that we need, to get to certain contests.”
For the band, these regulations have only left a small impact on the group. Assistant band director Sarah Jahnke said there is not much of a difference from last year to this year when it comes to the band traveling.
“It’s just that it doesn’t really affect anything for us in a different manner,” Jahnke said. “It’s just an additional form for us to sign, so we didn’t have to go through really any different processes to get through all of that. But, it was still a new thing to add to our additional stuff, so it doesn’t really affect the amount of people that you can bring.”
The new guidelines only allow fine art groups to leave the state for “extra” trips, which are trips that don’t involve competition, once every four years or “exceptional” trips, which are trips that involve students competing, once every two years. This is a change from previous years. Senior Aiden Hansen, a member of the choir and theatre said that he can see this change as a disadvantage.
“I know multiple different departments have competitions that are out of state. Like, I know for theatre, we have International Thespians in Indiana every year,” Hansen said. “Limiting the amount of travel not only prohibits our ability of having fun but also our ability to find success. So, that’s not good.”
An additional rule to the new policy is that there has to be a form signed for medications that are over-the-counter, for example Tylenol or Advil. In years before, there were forms just for prescribed medications. It must be signed by a doctor indicating when the student can take any medication.
“That one we release closer to when we do a big travel trip if we’re going out of state or going super far away,” Jahnke said. “That one we hand out to the students, and then they have to fill out a form per medication. So, it just kind of adds up as it goes on. But yeah, you know, just extra steps for everyone to stay healthy and safe.”
Chamberlain said the choir’s biggest challenge with the new rules are accommodating plans when they plan for trips in advance so that they meet with the district rules.
“The main things for us are in regards to our spring trips, which are usually a really great opportunity for our students,” Chamberlain said. “So, that has changed a little bit for us to get used to. It’s more changed some of our long-range planning in that we’re careful about which trips we do certain years and making sure that we don’t overbook it within new policies.”
